The sound of footsteps could be perceived through seemingly every direction possible. An audible gulp could be heard coming from Takashi as his instincts became sharper than ever.

Sweat slowly dripped from his neck—awaiting to be ambushed in the darkness. Patiently, he waited and focused everything he had into his senses apart from his sight. By the time the light returned—his face went pale as two statues; one behind him with Sungah facing it while another exactly in front of him—appeared seemingly out of thin air.

Although terrified, another concern occupied Park Sungah as she suddenly picked up a scent of something incredibly putrid, as well as the sound of water dripping onto the stone floor. Turning behind, she witnessed a fully grown adult Japanese man—standing as still as a mannequin—with his pants drenched in piss. That's right, our beloved Takashi who ‘protected’ Park Sungah was had pissed himself to say the least.

"...Takash-"

"Please…just…pretend you saw nothing…" He begged earnestly.

Eventually, they begin traversing the maze once more—avoiding direct encounters with the statues and doing their best to survive—they soon found themselves trapped in a large room devoid of corpses, hostile entities and mold. It appeared to be some sort of a rest point as Sungah's previous wounds instantaneously healed the moment she entered it.

There was also a fountain in the middle of it. A single droplet of water was enough to quench their thirst, and ironically—clean his stained pants too. The path they took to enter the room was concealed by stones and there was seemingly not a single way to exit unless something had been triggered, yet neither had a clue as to the trigger.

Without anything else to do—they decided to reminisce about the old days they worked together. How much both of them sincerely longed to return to their home. But they knew it was a hopeless dream. But perhaps just one day, in the far future, just maybe they could see the faces of their loved ones waiting for them back there. Despite it being rather foolish of them to do so, they decided to cling onto a sliver of hope that they would reunite with their respective family once more.

Amidst their chatting—Takashi's curiosity piqued as he asked "The helmet you tied around your waist…mind if I try wearing it?"

"I don't see why not." Sungah answered—handing it over to Takashi.

"Hm…So, do I look cool?" He queried, striking a pose after having don the dark knight-like helmet.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"You look like a joke." Sungah replied sincerely.

"Harsh!"

Two hours passed yet everything remained unchanged in the room. However, they had discovered that the room does not have a time limit to when the light would disappear and reappear. It was constantly bright and shining—as if imitating daytime.

Only by the third hour did a door open as Kafil and Park Jeongeun entered the room with an exhausted expression scrawled on their faces. Mud tainted their look but vanished instantly as they both stepped foot in the room.

"What the hell happened to the both of you?" Takashi inquired.

"We…had to swim…across an ocean…And then traverse a jungle…And then crawled through a maze made of mud. Yes, I didn't say it wrong, we had to CRAWL…" Kafil said wearily.

"I never want to experience that again…" He continued.

…

A few hours earlier, located at an uncharted island, two figures could be seen making a raft together using the limited resources they had on the island.

"If only my fortress ability worked…" Kafil grumbled.

"Don't blame yourself. Your ability was meant to build fortresses in the first place, so no need to be mad at yourself since you can't build a raft." Park Jeongeun reassured.

After a while, they finished making a somewhat functional raft. With anticipation—they rode their newly made ship. Smiling inwardly, they expected their creation to last the bare minimum of two days. Spoiler; it did not.

By the thirty minutes mark—they had drifted too far away from shore to be within their range of sight. Kafil and Park Jeongeun were stranded in the middle of nowhere—desperately holding onto pieces of planks to prevent themselves from drowning, and that was when Park Jeongeun proposed an outrageous idea.

"Why don't we swim?" He suggested.

"...Sir, please. There has to be a time when you need to act rationally instead of being impulsive." Kafil retorted.

"I'm being rational right now though? You can't use your powers when not in a calm state as we have discovered before hunting down that monster. With my super strength, I can bring us both to land."

"Sigh…alright." Kafil sighed in defeat as he held onto Jeongeun's back, being dragged around in the sea by him as he paddled his feet while grasping onto a piece of plank.

'...I wonder how exactly sir's mind works.' Kafil pondered.

After an hour had passed, they both found another island at last. It was way larger than the one they previously found themselves stranded at, and had an abundance of fresh and mysterious fruits growing on the trees.

"Don't eat those." Jeongeun warned.

"It's hard to determine whether they are safe for consumption or not. Think about it, we ended up at an uncharted island after something devoured us. Perhaps even earth itself. Who knows what weird effects the fruits may have for us. For now, let's examine our surroundings and check for potential civilization."

Nodding his head, they both begin mapping out the island they were on. It took them nearly three hours to do so and even had time to make water—using the leaves as a container. But once they had finished discovering the true extent of the island, they realised a certain pattern.

"Sir, is it just me or does the island seem… strange?"

"It's not just you. The arrows on the trees, you noticed them too, right? Following them, it all leads to the middle."

"But…what are we supposed to do here? What do we need to do to… progress?"

Thinking quickly, he requested for Kafil to stand back. Jeongeun then poured a single droplet onto the surface and surprisingly, the ground did not absorb the water. At the same time, strange symbols promptly revealed themselves as the sky darkens and the entire island pulls the both of them underground into a cramp maze.

Unfortunately, they were separated so neither knew the other's exact location. Hope was bleak yet they endured the daunting task presented before them as they began crawling in order to reunite with one another.

Unlike Takashi and Sungah who came across statues, Park Jeongeun and Kafil encountered ants—colossal ants that caused the entire maze to tremble as they hunted Park Jeongeun and Kafil. Only after they miraculously slipped past the ants and reunited with each other did they found a small open space with an out of place stone door. Opening it, they saw an uncannily pristine stone room with Takashi and Sungah placed within it.

…